This book tells the sumptuously rendered tale of four generations of the Garrison family, whose story begins when young Deirdre flees Ireland in 1920, seeking a better life in Brooklyn. The secrets she carries with her will bend the fates of not only Deirdre, but all who come after her, including her son Frank, whose dream of becoming an artist is ended by WW2, Frank’s daughters Rosheen and Von, who are each damaged in their own way, and Rosheen’s son Kyle, who has never known his mother.